MIRROR NEURONS AND LEARNING

Sandra Blakeslee’s article, Cells That Read Minds (New York Times, January 10, 2006), provides information that may lay the groundwork for more effective teaching than ever before possible. Bob Sylwester, Professor Emeritus University of Oregon, points out renowned neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran’s suggestion that “the discovery of mirror neurons will be as important to our understanding of teaching and learning as the discovery of DNA was to our understanding of genetics.”

In research done with monkeys and first published in 1996, it was observed that a special class of cells - called mirror neurons - fired whenever animals saw or heard an action. This pattern of firing within the brain was exactly the same as if the animal was performing the action itself.

Humans, it appears, also possess mirror neurons; but theirs are more flexible and highly evolved than those found in monkeys. “The human brain has multiple mirror neuron systems that specialize in carrying out and understanding not just the actions of others, but their intentions - the social meaning of their behavior and their emotions.” This network of neurons enables humans to understand the mind of other humans, through simulation and feeling. And most importantly, it perhaps lays the foundations for empathy, culture, and communication.

There are several categories of neuronal functions. The majority of brain nerve cells, or neurons, are straightforward in their function. They specialize in detecting features of the environment – each responding to specific input, such as detection of a 45-degree angle, the pitch of a sound, or a unique shade of a color. Other groups of neurons detect more complex features: faces, hands or even body language. Blakeslee’s article goes on to say “Still other neurons help the body plan movements and assume complex postures.”

But mirror neurons are far more complex in function. Found in several specific brain regions - including the pre-motor cortex, the posterior parietal lobe, the superior temporal sulcus and the insula – “…they fire in response to chains of actions linked to intentions” (emphasis added).

Studies show that some mirror neurons fire when a person carries out a physical act – but also when he watches someone else carry out the same act or is exposed to a word that elicits a memory of such an act. In other words, when a brain sees an action performed by others it automatically simulates the action itself. While firing circuits within itself during simulation, self-movement is inhibited.

Dr. Marco Iacoboni, a neuroscientist at the University of California Los Angeles who studies mirror neurons, says, "(a person) understand(s)… action because you have in your brain a template for that action based on your own movements. When you see me pull my arm back, as if to throw the ball, you also have in your brain a copy of what I am doing and it helps you understand my goal. Because of mirror neurons, you can read my intentions. You know what I am going to do next." Mirror neurons almost allow us to read minds.

Likewise, mirror neurons fire in corresponding circuits to simulate an emotion witnessed in another. The person’s mirror neurons enable the brain to have empathy for the being they are observing, because they allow the brain to literally feel what another is feeling. So you cry in a sad movie, laugh when you see others laughing, and sense your boss’s tension on a trying day. It might be integral in how we identify with others, sense the needs of others, avoid provocation of others, and rejoice with others.

Importance for educators
Educators have struggled to raise achievement of special needs students for decades. One category, autism, has seen its numbers increase significantly in recent decades and puzzled educators as to its cause and handling. But this new research might open the door to understanding. Autism may involve broken mirror neuron systems. Although some autistic humans can identify emotions, they don’t feel the emotion and are, for the most part, devoid of the empathy that mirror neurons provide (Mirella Dapretto, neuroscientist at U.C.L.A: Jan. 6 issue of Nature Neuroscience).

Mirror neurons also may provide clues as to how children learn. Dr. Andrew Meltzoff (University of Washington) has published studies showing infants a few minutes old actually imitate adults in simple actions, such as sticking out a tongue. Children, he says, “… are hard-wired for imitation… observing what others do and practicing …the same things.” Mirror neurons begin functioning at birth.

Professional athletes and coaches have long used mental practice and imagery to improve skills. Without knowing why, they’ve successfully used the brain's neuronal systems to teach. Skills are modeled, as students watch and emulate. But what they were really doing is taking advantage of the mirror neuron circuits to plant sensorimotor memory. Observation directly improves muscle performance for physical skills, as mirror neurons simulate and fire corresponding motor circuits in the brain. Carrying the possibilities further, the mirror neuron system may be the reason that modeling of cognitive strategies is a critical component of excellent teaching – modeling stimulates proper brain circuits to plant skill memory, via motor neurons.

Social behavior and culture
While and understanding of mirror neurons holds great hope for teaching and learning, conversely the viewing of aggressive acts, violence, and negative actions might wire an observer’s brain for antisocial behavior. Young people and adults both spend increasingly large amounts of time with visual media entertainment: electronic games, movies, internet devices. Debate has ensued for years as to whether time so spent is harmful or harmless – originally because it robbed minds of experience arising from social interaction and personal experience, and eventually because of the ever-growing negative content of media. Although numerous studies have shown the detrimental effects of violent media on our youth, better understanding of brain wiring may shed light on the harmful effects of vicarious violent experiences, pornography, and antisocial behavior – on humans of all ages. Perhaps such knowledge will alarm society to the dangers of exposing children to violent and antisocial acts in movies, TV, and video games.

And finally, in the past scholars have viewed culture as having little to do with biology. Yet an understanding of mirror neurons shows us that humans absorb culture directly, as each new generation learns from the last through teaching by imitation, observation and social interaction. Dr. Iacoboni claims, however, that mirror neurons work best in real life, with people “…face to face. Virtual reality and videos are shadowy substitutes.”